Anyone interested in
the history of Shurdington will be indebted to Mr Ron Maltby, Parish Councillor in
Shurdington in the 60's, for his tremendous contribution by publishing his researches into
the village in January 1965. This was in the form of a photocopied spiral bound booklet of
some 30 A4 pages which included researched history, conversations with some local people,
hand drawn maps, and some photographs. Mr Alan Pilbeam was appointed in 1979 to
attempt to consolidate the writings into a publishable form. Only 10 copies of the
original Maltby bound work were distributed, 4 copies to the Parish Council, 1 for Mrs
Maltby, 1 for Alderman F Holiday, 2 copies for Mr Pilbeam, 1 for Shurdington Primary
School, and 1 for Chosen Hill School.
I am grateful to the Vicar, Rev David Primrose for the loan of a copy in the church's
library. Much, but not all, of the following pages are transcripts from Maltby's
publication. Disclaimer: Any facts entered on these pages, correct or otherwise, are published
as read.

A Water Colour by Ron Maltbynow in the Century Hall
"Footpaths around Shurdington"

EARLIEST
TIMES(back to top)
There is much local evidence of the habitation of the hills around Shurdington by Stone
Age Man. The great number of camps on the spurs of the Cotswolds, overlooking the Severn,
between Stroud and Cheltenham, must have served some special purpose, possibly for defence
against danger from the river, or perhaps raids from beyond the river. Whatever the
danger, it appears to have lasted into Roman times, and may account for their great camp
at Dowdeswell. Stone Age man had his home on all the notable hill-tops in the vicinity,
including Cleeve, Leckhampton, Birdlip, Cranham, Painswick and Churchdown, with a burial
ground on the top of Shurdingtion Hill amongst other places, with linking trackways such
as the Green Street of Brockworth and the Greenway of our own
neighbourhood. (back to top)

EARLY
HISTORY(back to top)
In the far-off days, when Britain was densely forested, and large areas were covered by
swamps and marshes, the ancient tribes that lived here made good use of higher ground, and
the tracks or ways that they trod were later used by the Romans, developed and continued,
becoming a remarkable network, linking the great towns built by these enterprising
invaders.

There is much local evidence of the habitations of our
hills by these early tribes, the Ancient Britons; the camps, the burial-places and the
communicating tracks.

When the Saxon tribes eventually defeated the
Romano-British forces, groups of men, or even individuals, settled in places already to be
found, or created new settlements. These settlements which may have been single farmsteads
or villages were called tuns, hams or worths, and by prefixing either a personal name, or
a descriptive name, place-names were created, and so much did these names become part of
our old English language, that the subsequent Norman invasion, in many cases had little or
no influence on them, and indeed they remain to this day. So it is with Shurdington, and
our neighbouring parishes.

The foundations of our English Society were laid in these
early days, with the growth of the village and local election procedures, with the
addition of the manorial system, and the 'grading' of men relative to their degree of
freedom and ownership.

In the absence of great Revolutions in England, life as we
find it, is the logical development from life as it was, and in an English village, this
whole fascinating story can be traced.

FIRST CENTURY A.D.
and on...(back to top)
During the first century AD, Roman settlements were over-run and Roman armies defeated by
invading Angles and Saxons from Northern Europe, but not before the Christian religion had
been introduced. Central England became part of the Kingdom of Mercia. These invaders
tended to form small settlements of their own rather than take over the Roman towns. By
the time the Danish invaders arrived, the earlier tribes had managed to create a system of
government, based on local agreement, and a system of justice, based on local courts, and
a form of monarchy, with King Alfred crowned at Winchester, as the best known of our early
Kings.

An English nationality began to emerge. Most of our
English villages were established and named at this time, Shurdington amongst them, and
while authorities differ as to the significance of the first part of the name, the ending
'ton or tun, certainly meant a farmstead or dwelling. Shurdington was
established as a parish and manor, in the Hundred of Cheltenham, by the time of the Norman
Invasion in the 11th century. Great Shurdington and Little Shurdington were quite separate
then, Little Shurdington being in the Parish of Badgeworth, which Parish was of much
greater significance and population until comparatively recently. Many village churches
and most cathedrals were founded during the Saxon times but Shurdington church was founded
before Norman times.

The Norman invasion was the last great invasion of this
land and with it came a strong influence in languages, building and a system of
Government, which became more central with local officers appointed by the Crown. The
Norman Manorial system of local government was not as democratic as the earlier system,
which it replaced. With the Norman Kings came great changes in land ownership based on
rewards for support of the Monarch. Shurdington features in the Doomsday Book as of having
no great value.

During the 400 years of the Dark and Middle Ages, there
would have been little change in the appearance of things in Great Shurdington. Farming
would have been operating on the 3-field system, the craft of the weaver would probably be
as important as the work of the farmer. Ownership of the Manor would have changed families
from time to time, the simple Norman church would have been enlarged and improved. Except
for possible changes in ownership, the effects of the court intrigue which vitally
affected places like Gloucester and Warwick, would have had little influence here.

In the 17th Century, we began to have records of the names
of the significant families that lived in Shurdington and Little Shurdington. A Gwinnet
family from Wales and a Lawrence family with holdings in other parts of the country lived
here, the first family presumably in the manor house, and the other at Greenway - then
called simply Shurdington. There was some intermarriage; eventually we hear nothing more
of the manor house but only of the Greenway, where members of the Lawrence family
continued to live for many generations.

In this century, the influence of the church would have
been increasingly felt and the paying of tithes to the church would have affected
landowners. Charitable trusts were set up, and parishes were obliged to support their
poor. The earliest local trusts dated to this time.

Life in the 17th and 18th Centuries would seem to have
been relatively undisturbed. Farming developed on the strip system and the invention of
new methods of farming, being tried out in other parts of the country, including the
enclosure of lands, had no influence here. Local prosperity and misery depended on the
vagaries of the weather and people were concerned only with local needs.

But the end of the l8th Century saw the development of the
Industrial Revolution, and the sudden growth of town populations with the need to feed the
people in them. Faced with the problem of finding cheap food for the workers at the new
machines, the Governments of the day, sensing perhaps that future voting strength lay more
with the new industrial employers than with the dwindling land-owning aristocracy,
supported the Repeal of Corn Laws which supported home growers and brought grain and meat
from the newly-developing Empire countries. The affect on British farming was disastrous
and Shurdington, in common with most parishes, had a very high proportion of inhabitants
dependent on the Poor Rate, and sent people to the Union Workhouse.

The most significant change during this period was the
construction of the new turnpike road on the Shurdington road in 1820. Gradually along
this road, houses were built.

Near businesses for instance, doubtless to serve the
growing population of Cheltenham; there were blacksmiths, wheelwrights and coach painters,
an undertaker, a button-maker, a laundress, a boot mender, market-gardeners, brewery of
perry and cider, fruit growers, with a few grander houses built purely for grander living.

By 1846, it was felt at last that land enclosure would be
an asset to local farming and an award was made in that year. Train services had been
established by this time, which made the sale of fruit possible to places as far as
Manchester.

ORIGINS
OF THE NAME(back to top)The origin of the name Shurdington is obscure, but may derive from the Saxon
meaning "the farm of the sons of Scirheard". The village is mentioned in
the Doomsday Book, as being "in the Hundred of Chintinham (Cheltenham), but having no
great value." So we can be sure the village has pre-Norman roots.

William Caxton, the first printer in England,
began work in 1476. But another couple of centuries passed before there was any
semblance of standard spelling. Consequently, Shurdington - like every other
settlement in the country - appeared in a variety of written forms, as this selection from
The place names of Gloucestershire - Book 3, published by the English Place Names
Society illustrates.

AROUND 1700(back to top)
In 1712, when Sir Robert Atkyns published his weighty tome The ancient and present
state of Gloucestershire, the spelling he chose was:

"Shernton - this parish lies in the
Hundred of Dudston and King's Barton, 2 miles distant south from Cheltenham, 8 miles south
east from Tewkesbury and 4 miles east from Gloster. It is generally writ
Shurdington. The church is in the Deanery of Winchcombe (Ed. should
read Witcombe?), and is annexed to
Badgeworth. The tithes of Shurdington did anciently belong to the Benedictine
nunnery at Usk in Monmouthshire. The parish is 4 miles in compass and consists of
pasture and arable. A small brook runs from hence into the Severn at Sandhurst.
There are 15 houses in this parish and about 70 inhabitants."